For several years, the Ricochet Gatherings have attracted electronic musicians of note to assemble in exotic international locations for outstanding freeform jam performances. Numerous concert releases have been released to document these events, along with an amount of studio albums by the participants.
Here are a few new ones...
AIRSCULPTURE: Before the Moon (limited edition CD on Ricochet Dream)
This release from 2010 offers 66 minutes of great electronic music culled from the limited edition double CD Before the Moon release. The music was recorded live at the 5th Ricochet Gathering in the Castillo del Mar in Vallehermoso on Gomera Island, Spain, on October 14, 2005.
Airsculpture is: Adrian Beasley, John Christian, and Pete Ruczynski (all on electronics).
The album is divided into four sections:
Part 1 commences with sawing electronics that gradually emerge from a plopping surf to unfurl shimmering banners of crystalline sound. Twinkling keys guide things into a textural milieu of a celestial nature with trails still churning the water. Tantalizing effects lurk on the periphery, ultimately luring a rhythmic pulse to take position at the core of the flow and evolve into a bouncy electronic riff. E-perc joins in to enhance the music's peppy allure. Additional riffs slide into play, transforming things into a full-blown melody of quite attractive definition.
Part 2 picks up with an advanced version of the prior melody, now accompanied by electric bongos and more demonstrative percussion. The melody undergoes swift mutation and dives into stratospheric life with spry embellishments. Sweeping keyboards enter the mix to divert things into a panoramic journey, a flight enhanced by more keyboard riffs and faux guitar. (While Airsculpture uses no actual guitar, the instrument is sampled and presented through keyboard triggering.) Synthetic chorales lend the hyperactive tune a heavenly lilt.
For part 3 the music adopts a deeper tonality as chugging cycles advance a pensive melody into expressive definition. Twinkling keyboards lend things a delightful sparkle, moving the flow into more frigid territory where auxiliary tracks merge with things to create a lush vista of breathtaking scope.
Lively bloops contribute a bouncy rhythm to part 4 and are quickly joined by dramatic pulsations. Airy keyboards temper things with lovely tones, soon accompanied by more snarly sounds which flesh things out to a dazzling density. Things devolve into a sparkling but sedate conclusion.
While the album begins with a dreamy atmospheric pastiche, the majority of the tuneage exhibits an appealing agility that can almost be called a meshing of techno with contemporary electronic music.
DANIEL BLOOM: Event Horizon (CD on Ricochet Dream)
This release from 2010 offers 52 minutes of dynamic electronic music.
Warsaw synthesist Bloom is joined by Tomasz Zur (on guitar) on two tracks.
Bloom applies an extreme density to his compositions. While complexity plays an essential role in these tunes, each sound exhibits a demonstrative mass which escalates everything to a delightful proportion.
The electronics possess a dramatic edge. Multiple keyboard threads run simultaneously, generating a lush cohesion. Deep-voiced tones mix with reedy pitches. Heavenly texturals provide expansive firmaments that turn into foundations as the music ascends into outer space. Snarling riffs evoke serpentine patterns that twist into engaging melodies.
These songs embody a sprightly demeanor. The notes are fast, supported by slippery tonal sweeps and seasoned by agile effects. Yet they display a certain regal temperament at times, achieving epic stature with bewitching ease.
Drumbeats are utilized in a few pieces, generating a climactic majesty, but otherwise the tempos are supplied by rhythmic loops that establish compelling locomotion.
The guitar adds a spacey growl to the slick electronics.
This tuneage is styled in homage to alien vistas, whether they be interstellar or glacial in nature. A strong tension is created, compounded with a cosmic flair. The melodies are bouncy, instilling the listener with a sense of astral vitality.
WLADEK: Time Merchants (CD on Ricochet Dream)
Originally released in 1995, this 2010 reissue offers 76 minutes of gentle electronic music.
Wladek is Wladyslaw Komendarek.
Demonstrably pleasant tuneage with soft electronics and dreamy atmospherics.
The electronics are delicate and vaporous, caressing the ears with astral melodies that are generally as tenuous as invisible zephyrs. Expansive texturals establish cloudlike foundations which are then tempered by similarly gentle electronics of an ambient nature. A congenial mood is maintained as heavenly textures are seasoned by minimal keyboards, producing a sparse-but-attractive environment of benign definition.
While the electronics are chiefly mellow, a varied range is employed in their voice, from reedy to thick to vibrating to elongated. In one track, the notes are presented in a spry fashion, generating melodies that cascade with an amiable verve peppered with a few brief occasions of beats.
One track features vocoder vocals and sampled snippets, while there are some incidental vocal samples in a few other pieces.
While many of the song titles evoke striking moods like "35 Atomic Dump" and "Interplanetary Hedonism," the general temperament of this music is strictly ambient. Soft tones dominate, while tender keyboards establish a soothing garnish for the atmospheric compositions.
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